S.D. NARCOTICS POLICE TARGET CANNABIS CLUB ORGANIZER

Steve McWilliams, founder and organizer of the Shelter from the Storm
Cannabis Collective in Hillcrest(San Diego) was arrested Tuesday, July 6 at
3780 Fifth Avenue (in Hillcrest) which served as the headquarters of his
group's medicinal marijuana collective garden. Also arrested was a patient
and member of the collective identified only as Tom. McWilliams, who has
suffered from head, neck and shoulder injuries since being involved in
vehicle accidents in 1986 and 1992, moved to California from his native
Colorado in 1996 to take part in the campaign to pass California's medicinal
marijuana law, Proposition 215, and at the time of his arrest was already on
probation from an earlier charge stemming from an arrest by North County San
Diego sheriff's deputies in January 1998.

"My neighbor Kathleen motioned to me that we had guests at the gate, and
they were from the San Diego Police Department," McWilliams said, regarding
the July 6 arrest. "I showed them the information posted on the gate, which
explained how our club operated and that we had complied with the law. We
also showed them a letter of support we had received from City Councilmember
Christine Kehoe. Having said all that, and not having Fourth Amendment
protection (like most people who receive probation for drug-related
offenses, McWilliams had to give up his Constitutional protection against
warrantless searches and seizures as part of his probation conditions), I
invited the police in, showed them the patients' name tags on the outdoor
plants and stated that each person had a doctor's recommendation to use
marijuana medicinally."

McWilliams said he attempted to explain to the officers that each marijuana
plant at his facility belonged to an individual medical marijuana user; that
each user was responsible for caring for his or her own plants, and all paid
monthly dues to be allowed to use the collective's growing equipment.
McWilliams also told the officers that Judge Kenneth So, who had sentenced
him to probation on April 20, 1999 for the case initiated over a year
earlier, had specifically ruled from the bench that McWilliams had a right
to use marijuana and grow it for his own consumption.

"In spite of everything, the police and the Narcotics Task Force pulled the
plants out by the roots, destroyed all the plants, pulled out the name tags
identifying each plant as an individual patient's property, and photographed
it all," McWilliams said. "I was seized and handcuffed by the police for
lighting up a pipe and using marijuana. I was physically punished by having
my hands pinned behind my back, just for trying to use my medicine. I was
truly amazed by the malicious nature of the police officers. They reveled in
our misery, enjoyed destroying the plants and had disdain for the
Compassionate Use Act [Proposition 215] and for us as the scum of the earth."

The team of officers that arrested McWilliams and seized the co-operative's
plants and growing equipment was led by a plainclothes officer who
identified himself only as Sgt. Salgado. When asked by the media
representatives at the scene film crews from TV channels 10 and 51, as well
as Zenger's to comment, Sgt. Salgado denied that the action against
McWilliams constituted a "raid." He said it was merely an investigation,"
and his main priority was to make sure the TV crew did not film the faces of
his officers as they were confiscating the plants and growing equipment.
Also participating were uniformed police officer Gary McPhee and three other
police personnel, another uniformed male officer and two other plainclothes
officers, one male and one female.

Zenger's inquries about the McWilliams' arrest were ultimately referred to
Lt. Carl Black of the Narcotics Task Force, who said "Really, the only thing
I can comment on is, we simply responded to citizen's complaint about
narcotics activity. We had no knowledge that we would be arresting him at
the time we went to investigate the narcotics complaint. After we got there
and subsequently did an investigation that led us to believe that he was
involved in growing a great deal of marijuana plants, that's what led to his
arrest. He wasn't arrested for smoking marijuana."

Though Black's comments suggest that the police believe all the plants on
the premises were McWilliams' property, at least one other Shelter from the
Storm member, Phil Hanson, said he had received a call from police detective
the day after McWilliams' arrest.

Hanson, who was diagnosed with AIDS in 1994 and said he uses marijuana to
stimulate his appetite and control nausea from his HIV medications, told
Zenger's, "I was sitting here and a man called who identified himself as a
detective from downtown. He asked me if I were part of the cannabis club and
how many plants I had there. I said 20 to 25. He asked me if I grew at home,
and I said no. I told him I felt bad about the raid and he said, 'It wasn't
a raid. They were breaking the law.' I said that we weren't breaking the law
because we were all medicinal marijuana users under Proposition 215, and he
said, 'That's not a legitimate law.'"

Asked to comment on Hanson's account, Lt. Black said, "Obviously, we do
consider [Proposition 215] a legitimate law. That's the official stance of
the San Diego Police Department. I can't imagine one of my detectives making
that comment. But I wasn't there, so I don't know what happened."

McWilliams said he was particularly disappointed that he was arrested just
one day after the Los Angeles Times reported that the statewide Medical
Marijuana Task Force, representing law enforcement officials as well as
medical marijuana activists and providers, had completed its report and sent
its recommendations to the state Assembly for legislative action. The Task
Force recommendation would basically do on a statewide level what several
cities and counties in California have already done: establish a registry of
medical marijuana users and give them identification cards they could show
to police officers to prove they have a legal right to use marijuana.

McWilliams and some of his supporters suggested that the arrest was a
"retaliatory attack" aimed at shutting down his club before the state
legislature had a chance to clarify the law and set terms under which
McWilliams could operate his club legally.

"I can absolutely tell you that that is false," Lt. Black told Zenger's. "I
can understand his group's concern, but at the time we made the arrest we
weren't even knowledgeable that the state [task force] had come to an
agreement. It was just coincidence."